Afflicted

“What the hell was that?” I demanded.

“Holy shit where did you go?” Kai yelled.

“We thought you were dead!” Santos added angrily.

“I nearly was,” I spat. “So why don't you explain to me why the bridge has just been blown out of existence?”

“We did tell you, they're trying to contain the contamination. They can't risk it getting into the cities and the decision was made to isolate areas which have been worst affected. Sorry Walsh; your friends are gone.” Kai’s voice softened with understanding like Katy and Reese were already dead.

“They're blocking all cellphone activity right?” I asked as I tried to formulate a plan.

“Yes. Civilian cellphones will remain out of action until the situation has been dealt with. We don't have any set timeframe on that yet. Did you want to say goodbye?” Hawker asked gently. I guessed they must have had me on speaker too.

“But you can still access location data right?” I asked, ignoring her stupid question.

There was a pause and I felt my lip curling back with irritation.

“Technically…” Hawker replied. “But it's not like you can get across the river. All major crossings have been destroyed-“

“What about the minor ones? A few miles north of here the river splits and narrows. There are old footbridges which I used to cross when I was a kid.”

“As far as I know they haven't been destroyed,” Hawker said with a sigh. She knew what I was getting at and she knew she wouldn't be able to talk me out of it either. “Yet,” she added, her tone laced with warning.

“I know you grew up with these kids Walsh but are you sure they're worth risking your life for?” Santos asked.

“I gave their mother my word. And even if I hadn't, I'd still go,” I said as I started my truck up again and turned it back the way I'd come.

“Walsh-” Kai began.

“Just get me access to her location,” I cut him off. “I'll send you her cell number now.”

I hung up on them before they could keep trying to convince me to change my mind and forwarded Katy’s cellphone number to Hawker. She should make quick work of it and I expected to be able to track Katy’s location by the time I got back to the house.

I hated wasting time retracing my steps but if I was going to have to head out on foot then I'd need more kit.

Chapter Twenty One

Kaitlyn

“We have to get out of here,” Ella said. Tears ran down her face steadily but it didn't seem like she'd noticed.

The wolves had given up on trying to break into the van but we could still hear them howling close by.

“We’re going to die aren't we?” Kristen muttered, twisting a lock of her flaming red hair between her fingers.

I turned away from their despair and held my cellphone up to illuminate the wall, hoping to find a hidden entrance to the cab. I wasn't giving up just yet. There was a small grille above my head and I quickly slid it open.

I stood on my tiptoes to peer through to the cab. The driver’s door was wide open and I could just make out the glimmer of keys hanging from the ignition.

“I can see the keys,” I hissed. “If we can get to the front of the van we might be able to drive it out of here.”

“There are two problems with that,” Reese said irritably. “Firstly, to even get to the cab someone would have to go out there and outrun the wolves. And secondly, even if we could do that, the road is blocked. There are cars everywhere, there's no way we can drive this thing out of here.”

“We don't have to drive it out of here, just far enough to get away from the wolves,” I replied.

“Okay, so what about the fact that none of us know how to drive?” he asked “As you pointed out earlier.”

“I can drive,” Rose said. “I never bought a car after passing my test but…”